Top five Green wards in Southend-on-Sea over the years

Probably the most underused item in local politics is a Green candidate’s winner’s speech. The Green’s have rarely come anywhere near close, acting as a spoiler vote in many instances.

The following table shows the top five wards for the Green Party in the Borough of Southend-on-Sea, ordered by actual number of votes. The Greens have rarely fielded a full slate, and often less than five candidates which explains the gaps.

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th
2001	St Luke’s	Prittlewell
2002	Victoria	Westborough
2003	Leigh	Prittlewell	Milton	West Leigh	St Luke’s
2004	St Luke’s	Prittlewell	Southchurch	West Leigh	Kursaal
2006	West Leigh	Leigh	Milton	St Luke’s	Southchurch
2007	West Leigh	Chalkwell	St Luke’s	St Laurence	Southchurch
2008	Victoria	St Luke’s
2010	Victoria	West Leigh	Chalkwell	Prittlewell	Westborough
2011	Westborough	Victoria	Southchurch	St Laurence	Shoeburyness
2012	Blenheim Park	Westborough	Southchurch	Kursaal	Victoria
2014	Blenheim Park	Victoria	Kursaal
2015	Leigh	Westborough	Milton	Prittlewell	Eastwood Park
2016	Leigh	Milton	Kursaal	Westborough	Chalkwell

Here are the top five across all years :-

602 Leigh 2015

506 Westborough 2015

498 St Luke’s 2001

476 Milton 2015

441 Prittlewell 2015

There is little to suggest there is a strategy designed to actually win any ward. Their highest vote still resulted in only a fourth-placed finish. Will they field a full slate this year? Whatever, one thing seems a near certainty – the Green Party will not win or even come close in any of the seventeen wards. I guess they will be concentrating on improving on their 4.4% showing in 2016 (which was down on the 7% achieved in 2015)

Disappointing cull of free drop off time at the airport

 I was disappointed by the announcement that the free drop off period at London Southend Airport is being slashed to a third of what is currently allowed. The free drop off period, currently a quarter of an hour, is being reduced to five minutes. Surely this is a retrograde change?

London Southend Airport provides a pretty decent service, especially to those of us for whom it is but a short journey away. Proximity is an inducement, as is the speedy service one usually encounters. A further encouragement, until now anyway, is the sensible drop off (and pick up) time.

Fifteen minutes allows a leisurely drop off, neatly avoiding the unseemly scramble that is often found at other airports. It also allows for the possibility of picking up those who have arrived. I accept that fifteen minutes is generous, but surely Southend’s USP is the ease of use. Quite why an airport that boasts of being better should now want to emulate other airports is frankly baffling.

I would like to encourage those who have taken this decision to think again. Southenders have every reason to be proud of their airport, let’s not allow this to be spoilt because of a push for a few extra pennies. Of course, finances are important, and the airport has to make a profit, but a short-term gain could be the cause of a long-term loss if we are not careful.

If the airport really wants to see increased passenger numbers it must encourage, not discourage, potential customers. It is often the little things that make a difference and offering a sensible amount of free time to drop off and pick up passengers is but one example of this, in my humble opinion.